80 Minutes Around the World

Nestor "the Boss" Gomez was born in Guatemala and moved to Chicago in the mid ‘80s. 

Gomez told his first story at a Chicago Moth Slam as a way to get over stuttering. Surprisingly, he won the slam that night and has not stopped sharing stories ever since. 

Gomez has won thirty-five Chicago Moth Slams, fourteen Milwaukee Moth Slams, seven Madison Moth Slams, and one Louisville Kentucky Moth Slam. He has also won virtual slams in Twin Cities (twice), Atlanta, Washington D.C. (twice), Vermont, Seattle, Texas (twice), England (twice), Detroit, Miami, Denver, Portland, Alabama, one Eastern, one Central zone Virtual story slam, plus three Chicago Moth Grand Slams and one Milwaukee Grand Slam; for a grand total of 79 Moth Slams wins. He is also the winner of the 2022 National Storytelling Network Grand Slam.

Archy Jamjun is the co-curator of Outspoken LBGTQ Stories at Sidetrack in Chicago. 

Jamjun is a two-time winner of the Moth GrandSLAM and has appeared on the podcasts RISK!, Wild and Sublime, and Story Jam. 

Jamjun is also a storytelling coach, a cat dad, and works in hospitality.

Eliana La Casa is a bilingual Argentinean stand-up comedian. She has been featured on Comedy Central Latinoamérica and BBC Radio 4 London’s “Welcome to Wherever You Are.” 

La Casa was voted Best Stand-Up Comedian of 2021 by the Chicago Reader. She moved to the U.S. in 2021 and has since fallen in love with Storytelling. 

La Casa affirms she moved to pursue comedy, but her real goal is to try every single vegan restaurant in Chicago.

Maritza (she/her/ella) is a recent first-generation graduate from Dominican University with a BA in Spanish Studies with Honors. 

Maritza currently interns at ICIRR. She is also an aspiring bilingual educator in the Chicago area with a passion for social justice and advocacy work. 

Maritza has Mexican roots. She's a dog mom and sushi lover. Her hobbies include crocheting, lying in a hammock while reading, and spending time with family. 

Kory May is a seventeen-year member of Toastmasters. He’s participated in numerous storytelling competitions including winning a Moth Grand Slam. 

For the past 1800+ consecutive nights, (that’s six years) May has done a nightly extemporaneous microcast on Facebook Live. He posts the Word of the Day with Kory May on Tiktok and Facebook Reels.  As a two-time Distinguished Toastmaster, he embraces continuous learning and knowledge sharing, underscored by his impressive thirteen-time speech championship record in Iowa and his appearance as a five-time semi-finalist in the Toastmasters’ World Championship of Public Speaking. 

May began Same Difference Podcast during the fall of 2023. It’s a unique look at race in America through a diverse lens of storytelling. Recently, he performed in the Des Moines Storytellers Project in Des Moines, Iowa, sponsored by Gannett News.

Alina Serban, a Romanian-native turned Chicagoan, blends her 17-year TV journalism expertise from Romania with a vibrant American storytelling flair. 

From gracing Eurovision stages to captivating audiences at The Moth StorySLAM, Serban creates meaningful narratives. As the Chief of Staff at Embrace Living Communities, she champions affordable housing for seniors and individuals with disabilities in Chicagoland.

Serban lives with her husband Matt, their son Daniel, JubJub the iguana, and their fish, Tina 2 and Miss Dingleberry.